Page 96 of A Fate Everlasting

Was this all life was, now? Truths unstacking like Russian nesting dolls, the core of each one more rotted than the last. I didn’t even have tears left, just a dull ache that seemed to fill the hollows. I smoothed my silk skirts, frowning. I felt like death already, and I hadn’t even taken the Rift.

The sky sagged over Evermore, thick with storm clouds that curled like waiting hands as the guards ushered me into the chapel. Etherlight flickered against the stained glass, staining the floors in fractured hues of blue and gold. Rain thrummed against the windows like tapping fingers, like the skies were impatient for our sentencing. Archdaemon sentinels flanked every column, beady-eyed and ready to strike.

The Lower Sixth lined along the long aisle like statues, so nervous they were frozen. It was strange seeing them all out of uniform, dressed in robes of pale white, hair pinned to bare their marks just like we’d been taught. They had spent their entire lives preparing for this, for the moment they would take the Rift to see if they would Ascend. One step closer to the After, Elsewhere, or death.

But it was all a lie.

The Upper Sixth waited on benches near the front, impatient. Mirelle Sommers tapped her foot, the echo of it the only sound. Marcus wrung his hands again and again. Oliver just looked empty, his head bowed toward the floor.

Verrine stood at the dais beneath the Crucible, dressed in robes of gold, her expression poised as she tapped away at herslate. I looked past her, stifling my hatred and scanning the chapel with a rising panic.Where were they?Ruby and Dorian. I needed to see them. I needed to know they were safe.

I spotted him first. Dorian was on the end of a pew near the front, his face still mottled with cuts and bruises. There was no smirk on his lips, no trace of his usual arrogance or the confidence that once made him untouchable. The robe hung limply from his shoulders as if it, too, had given up.

He turned, and his violet eyes locked onto mine. Something deep and twisting lurched in my chest. I had seen the mindless shadows that stalked the alleyways of Elsewhere. I had seen what happened to those who had been hollowed out, turned into nothing more than puppets of the darkness. I could not let that happen to him. I didn’t want to let it happen to anyone, but itwouldif I made the wrong choice.

My fingers smoothed over the fabric of my gown, shaking as I joined the back of the line of Lower Sixth students. My breath came fast and shallow as I wracked my brain. I was the only one in this room that they could notforceto Fall. So long as I wore the necklace, the Rift could not take me, but that didn’t mean I was free.

A set of shoulders in front of me heaved, sobbing quietly. Lilibeth. I hadn’t noticed her there, her form so shrunken. I remembered her score, how close to zero it had been. I reached out a hand, resting it lightly on her shoulder. She jumped, wiping her nose as she blinked up at me.

“Aren’t you scared?” She managed, her chest still rising and falling. I shook my head. I wasn’t, not really. I just felt angry, and beneath that…empty.

“Lilibeth,” I said under my breath. “If there’s a moment, evenone,I need you to run. Understand?”

“What?” She sniveled.

The organ's deep, shuddering groan reverberated throughthe cathedral, crawling through the vaulted ceilings, pressing against my bones. It was starting.

I watched as the Crucible trembled above the dais, its once-glowing glass dimming, dark veins threading through its surface like rot creeping beneath a wound. Where there had once been light, there was now only shadow. Slithering tendrils of blackness curled through the hourglasses, choking the luminescent sands within. The balance no longer existed. There was no path to the After anymore, only Elsewhere, yawning like an abyss beneath them.

A low murmur swept through the ranks of Lower Sixth students, robes whispering against the stone as they shifted.

“Welcome.” The High King of Elsewhere stepped onto the dais, frost twining beneath his feet. “What a wonderful Sunday we find ourselves joined together on. Today, each and every one of you will face the Rift.” He gestured to the raised goblet behind him. “Drink from the chalice and the severence of soul from bodybegins.Within the cup is pure ether, strong enough to kill. There you greet your innermost self, your shadow. Those strong enough to face the darkness and claw themselves out deserve their place at Evermore.”

“Indeed.” Verrine nodded, stepping forward. “I’m sure many of you are familiar with the rules. Lower Sixth, you must not consume more than a sip to begin the process. Upper Sixth, you must drain the chalice entirely.”

Lilibeth had stopped crying. She had gone as still as death. I watched as Verrine called the first Lower Sixth girl in line to the platform. Her hands clung to the cup, trembling as she drank. A heartbeat later, she dropped to the floor.

The High King looked away, Verrine at her slate. The Crucible swirled, bloated by the darkness within. No one moved, even to breathe.

“Thirteen seconds,” Verrine called.

I stared at the empty spot where she had collapsed. She was a girl I didn’t even know, just a name in passing. But she was gone so quickly, and no one had even screamed.

Professor Esmerelda climbed onto the dais, skirts tangling, pressing a palm to the girl’s neck. “Gone,”she rasped, face contorted with worry. Verrine nodded once. A guard removed the body, carrying it somewhere behind the Crucible out of sight.

Just like that.Thirteen seconds.That was all it took for the Rift to decide if you were worthy.

“I can smell it from here!” Esmerelda called out, distraught. “The severing tonic is stronger than anything we’ve used before. It needs diluting. Must have been made too quickly. None of the Lower Sixth stand a chance!”

“Enough!” The High King tapped his staff and Esmerelda’s mouth rammed shut. A guard refilled the chalice from a massive silver pitcher, and next went an Upper Sixth I only loosely recognized. His body slammed to the floor.Hard.

They gave graduates a minute. He did not wake.

A tear slid down my cheek as my lip started to tremble. I blinked, eyes blurred, forcing myself to look at the platform as the body was hauled away. Then, I saw them.

The cards sat on a raised altar above the chalice, gleaming like a guest of honor. I felt it, the whisper of magic that pulsed from their surface, the weight of the power within them, bound by blood. My heart stuttered, skipping a beat.

The Arcana Deck.A ripple passed through me, standing the hairs on my arms on edge. It was dangerous to hope, now. But if the cards were here, this wasn’t over. Not yet.

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